Alternative Market Briefing

CFTC charges two commodity firms with fraud

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Bailey McCann, Opalesque New York: The Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) has charged two commodities firms - one in Texas and another in California with fraud. The regulator has charged Jonathan Hansen of Pearland, Texas, and his company, J. Hansen Investments, LLC (JHI), with fraudulently soliciting and accepting more than $1.1 million from the public in a commodity pool scheme. In a separate action, the CFTC also charged Marc Perlman of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., and his firm, iGlobal Strategic Management, LLC (iGlobal) with operating a commodity pool Ponzi scheme that fraudulently solicited and accepted at least $670,000 from at least 17 people — largely persons from the deaf community. Perlman was a principal and officer of iGlobal, and neither defendant has ever been registered with the CFTC.

In the Hansen case, a judge in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, has issued a restraining order freezing Hansen's assets and prohibiting the destruction of any books and records at the firm. A trial has been set for September 6, 2012. According to the complaint, from at least April 2009 through January 2012, Hansen and JHI fraudulently solicited and accepted approximately $1,117,160 from at least 10 members of the public to trade E-Mini S&P 500 futures contracts in a commodity pool he operated. Of the amount received from participants, Hansen allegedly transferred approximately $134,965 to his personal or JHI’s futures trading accounts, ......................

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